Committed to building
Kartoon
Channel! into the premier entertainment
destination for kids and family viewership,
Genius
Brands International (GNUS:NASDAQ)
announced today that it has licensed streaming and select
video-on-demand rights to the hit family
series,
The Wubbulous
World of Dr. Seuss (20 x 22’), from
The Jim Henson
Company on Kartoon Channel!
“As we continue to grow our footprint and our
viewers, a key to our success is acquiring the very best in
high-quality children’s entertainment from top-tier content
producers such as The Jim Henson Company. We are excited to welcome
The Grinch, Yertle,
Horton, and all the characters of
Seusville to Kartoon Channel!,” commented
Margaret Loesch, Executive Chairman of Kartoon
Channel! for Genius Brands.
“Dr. Seuss and The Jim
Henson Company are among the most beloved names in children’s
entertainment. We are proud of the relationship and expect the
series to be a driver of growing viewership for a long time to
come,” Said Jon Ollwerther, General Manager of
Kartoon Channel! at Genius Brands
“The Jim Henson Company specializes in creating
evergreen fantastical worlds that audiences want to visit again and
again, and realizing these iconic Dr. Seuss characters as puppets
for this award-winning production is no exception. And it’s no
wonder that The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss continues to
be a favorite series, and now families of all ages can enjoy this
classic on Kartoon Channel!,” said Anna Moorefield, Vice President,
Global Distribution at The Jim Henson Company.
The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss features the
fun, music and adventures of some of the favorite characters
created by celebrated children's author Theodore Geisel (aka Dr.
Seuss). These whimsical tales and well-known characters come to
life using a mix of masterful puppets built by Jim Henson's
Creature Shop and CG animation. Helping children understand
valuable lessons about friendship, imagination and much more, The
Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss is fun entertainment for the whole
family.
The new slate of content now available on
Kartoon Channel! also includes the preschool series Hi Opie!
(13x20”), Elias: Rescue Team Adventures (26x22”), and children’s
series including The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin (65 x 22') and The
Jim Henson Company’s Construction Site (52 x 11').
About Kartoon Channel! + Kartoon
Classroom!Kartoon Channel! and Kartoon Classroom! are
available in over 100 million U.S. television households and over
300 million devices via a broad range of distribution platforms,
including Comcast, Cox, DISH, Sling TV, Amazon
Prime, Amazon Fire, Apple TV, Apple i0s, Android TV,
Android Mobile, Google Play, Xumo, Roku, Tubi,
and streaming via KartoonChannel.com, as well as accessible via
Samsung Smart TVs, and now LGTVs.
The channel offers access to a wide variety
of Genius Brands original and acquired family-friendly content,
with more added daily, including Babar, Angry Birds, Stan
Lee’s Mighty7, Thomas Edison’s Secret Lab, Baby Einstein, Baby
Genius, Llama Llama shorts, Warren Buffett’s Secret Millionaires
Club, and more. Additionally, Genius
Brands has added more family-friendly gaming
content, including Minecraft’s Journey to the
End and Fairy Horse Quest, Octodad, PixArk,
and Big B Roblox Challenge from Tankee. Genius
Brands will also premiere in Q2 2021 on Kartoon
Channel! the upcoming comedy-adventure series, Stan Lee’s
Superhero Kindergarten, currently in production and starring Arnold
Schwarzenegger.
Kartoon Channel! content has been curated
through a program code developed in consultation with Stanford
University Professor Emeritus Don Roberts, one of the world’s
leading researchers of children’s media, to ensure the delivery of
positive and purposeful content that provides safe viewing for
children. The Kartoon Channel! Content Code, under the leadership
of Professor Roberts, ensures among other things, there will be no
imitatable violence, no negative stereotypes, no inappropriate
language, no degradation of the environment, and no excess
commercialization.
Kartoon Classroom! is an innovative extension of
Kartoon Channel! that features relevant and impactful STEAM-based
content (science, technology, engineering arts and math), including
programming from Genius Brands’ ‘content with a purpose’ library
such as Baby Genius (Early Development), Thomas Edison’s
Secret Lab (STEM), and Warren Buffett’s Secret
Millionaires Club (Financial Literacy). Additionally, Kartoon
Classroom! will showcase content from third party creators
worldwide, such as Baby Einstein (Early Development),
Little Smart Planet (Early Learning), I’m A
Dinosaur (Paleontology), Super Geek Heroes (Early
Learning), Counting with
Earl (Math), Giligilis (Musical Learning),
and Out of this Word (English Language). Genius
Brands will also develop new original content for the platform and
announces the first Kartoon Classroom! original series in
development, KC! Pop Quiz.
To stream Kartoon Channel! and Kartoon Classroom! for free,
download our app or visit: www.kartoonchannel.com
About Genius Brands
InternationalGenius Brands International, Inc. (Nasdaq:
GNUS) is a leading global kids media company developing, producing,
marketing and licensing branded children’s entertainment properties
and consumer products for media and retail distribution. The
Company’s award-winning ‘content with a purpose’ portfolio includes
the upcoming Stan Lee’s Superhero Kindergarten, starring Arnold
Schwarzenegger and in partnership with Alibaba; Rainbow Rangers for
Nick Jr.; Llama Llama, starring Jennifer Garner, for Netflix;
award-winning toddler brand Baby Genius; adventure comedy STEM
series Thomas Edison's Secret Lab; and entrepreneurship series
Warren Buffett's Secret Millionaires Club. Through licensing
agreements with leading partners, characters from Genius Brands’ IP
also appear on a wide range of consumer products for the worldwide
retail marketplace. The Company’s new Kartoon Channel! and Kartoon
Classroom! are available in over 100 million U.S. television
households via a broad range of distribution platforms, including
Comcast, Cox, DISH, Sling TV, Amazon Prime, Amazon
Fire, Apple TV, Apple i0s, Android TV, Android
Mobil, Google Play, Xumo, Roku, Tubi,
KartoonChannel.com, Samsung Smart TVs and LG TVs. For additional
information, please visit www.gnusbrands.com.
About The Jim Henson CompanyThe
Jim Henson Company has remained a leader in family entertainment
for over 60 years and is recognized as an innovator in puppetry,
animatronics and digital animation. Best known as creators of the
world-famous Muppets, Henson has received over 50 Emmy Awards and
nine Grammy Awards. Henson’s most recent television credits
include Earth to Ned for Disney+ and Fraggle Rock:
Rock On! for Apple TV+, and the Emmy-winning Netflix Original
series The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance. Other credits
include the Emmy®-nominated productions Dinosaur
Train (PBS), Sid the Science Kid (PBS), Splash
and Bubbles (PBS), and Julie’s Greenroom (Netflix), as
well as Word Party (Netflix), Dot. (Universal
Kids /Hulu), and Doozers (Hulu/Universal Kids). Previous
productions include Fraggle Rock, The Storyteller, and
the sci-fi series Farscape for TV, and the feature
films The Star (Sony Pictures Animation),
and Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad
Day (Disney), as well as The Dark
Crystal, Labyrinth, MirrorMask, and Jim Henson’s
Turkey Hollow. The Company is currently in production
on Harriet the Spy and a reboot of Fraggle Rock,
both for Apple TV+, and Guillermo Del
Toro’s Pinocchio for Netflix.
With additional locations in New York and
London, The Jim Henson Company is headquartered in Los Angeles on
the historic Charlie Chaplin lot, complete with soundstage and
post-production facilities. The Company is home to Jim Henson’s
Creature Shop™, a pre-eminent character-building and visual effects
group with international film, television, theme park and
advertising clients, as well as Henson Recording Studios, one of
the music industry’s top recording facilities known for its
world-class blend of state-of-the-art and vintage equipment.
Forward Looking Statements: Certain statements
in this press release constitute "forward-looking statements"
within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Words such as
"may," "might," "will," "should," "believe," "expect,"
"anticipate," "estimate," "continue," "predict," "forecast,"
"project," "plan," "intend" or similar expressions, or statements
regarding intent, belief, or current expectations, are
forward-looking statements. While the Company believes these
forward-looking statements are reasonable, undue reliance should
not be placed on any such forward-looking statements, which are
based on information available to us on the date of this release.
These forward looking statements are based upon current estimates
and assumptions and are subject to various risks and uncertainties,
including without limitation, our ability to generate revenue or
achieve profitability; our ability to obtain additional financing
on acceptable terms, if at all; our ability to repay our
outstanding debt; the potential issuance of a significant number of
shares to our convertible note holders which will dilute our equity
holders; fluctuations in the results of our operations from period
to period; general economic and financial conditions; our ability
to anticipate changes in popular culture, media and movies, fashion
and technology; competitive pressure from other distributors of
content and within the retail market; our reliance on and
relationships with third-party production and animation studios;
our ability to market and advertise our products; our reliance on
third-parties to promote our products; our ability to keep pace
with technological advances; our ability to protect our
intellectual property and those other risk factors set forth in the
“Risk Factors” section of the Company’s most recent Annual Report
on Form 10-K and in the Company's subsequent filings with the
Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"). Thus, actual
results could be materially different. The Company expressly
disclaims any obligation to update or alter statements whether as a
result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as
required by law.
MEDIA CONTACT:pr@gnusbrands.com
INVESTOR RELATIONS
CONTACT:
ir@gnusbrands.com
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/e3e20fc1-ce71-4eb2-a3df-9d08c1aa73c2
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